Kaffir Boy revised

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Kaffir Boy: Apartheid in South Africa
Introduction
The period between 1948 and 1994 marked a painful time in the history of South Africa. Essentially, this era was characterized by a system of established racial discrimination and segregation, popularly known as Apartheid (Mathabane 3). In his book, Mark Mathabane uses the character, Koffir Boy, to document the life and experiences in South Africa during the apartheid regime.
Thesis. Primarily, Mathabane’s Kaffir Boy teaches about the painful experiences that blacks underwent during the apartheid regime because of the suffering, Bantu homeland citizenship Act, pass laws, anti-mixed marriage Act, that the white minority government to perpetrated to ensure continued racial segregation and discrimination.
Theme I: Bantu Homeland Citizenship
In 1970, the apartheid system instituted an act that took away the national citizenship of all black South Africans. Blacks were categorized into ethnic groups, and each group was divided into Bantustans (homelands) that were completely distinct from South Africa.
Theme II: Pass Laws
The pass law was a key policy during the apartheid. According to Mathabane, these laws required all the Bantus (Black South Africans) to carry identity documents permitting their presence in regulated areas, such as whites’ neighborhoods. As Allen affirms, pass laws also prohibited social contacts between different races, restricted opportunities and areas of employment for Africans, and disallowed the establishment of uniform educational standards (56).

Theme III: Suffering
Suffering was also a common theme during the apartheid. Mathabane documents that his family, as well as those of other black South Africans, suffered consistently. They experienced serious episodes of hanger, disease, and malnutrition. Blacks constantly felt helpless, hopeless, and inferior under this white-minority system. In fact, it was a result the suffering that the author decided to pursue education and remain non-violent. As this source reveals, consistent suffering was an apartheid strategy to ensure that Africans were always needy and docile (Mathabane 43).
Theme IV: Prohibition of Mixed Marriages
The apartheid policy forbade mixed marriages or sexual relationships between whites and non-whites in South Africa. Enacted in 1949, the ant-mixed marriage rule was meant to create a total social disconnect between the white Europeans and the black South Africans (Mathabane 36).
Conclusion
Mathabane does a great job illustrating the time periods and historical events of Apartheid in South Africa because he experienced it; consequently, his account is not only accurate but also true and believable. For over forty years, the apartheid system allowed involuntary separation of public transportation, residential communities, social and educational institutions, marriages and religions (Allen 24).

Works Cited
Mathabane, Mark. “Kaffir boy: The true story of a black youth’s coming of age in apartheid South Africa.” Vol. 86. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Allen, John. “Apartheid South Africa: An Insider’s View of the Origin and Effects of Separate Development.” New York, NY: iUniverse, Inc., 2005.